Close Quarters
by upthenorthmountain
Summary: Modern AU. Unapologetically British. Kristanna.
1. Neighbours

_Thump, thump, thump._

He groaned and turned over.

_Thump, thump, thump._ "Heeeelloooooo? Are you up? Christopher?"

Awake now but not happy about it, he looked at the clock. Quarter past two in the morning. Something had better be on fire.

He wrenched open the flat door and it was one of the young women who lived on the other side of the corridor, the red-haired one. Anna, was it? She was wearing a very small, shiny dress and had a pair of heels in one hand. And she was drunk.

"It's Kristoff," he said. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"I'm sorry, I know it's late," she said. "But it's an _emergency_ and I don't really know anyone else yet, and I do know you, well, apparently I had your name wrong..." She paused and turned to lean, sideways, in the doorframe.

"So what's the problem? Did you get locked out?"

"No! No, actually." She beamed at him. "I need you to take my dress off."

Kristoff looked at her, still smiling at him and twirling her shoes in her hand. "I'm sorry, I'm very tired and I think I misheard you. You need me to what?"

"Take off my dress! It has a zip -" she turned her back, and pointed, and nearly fell over. He put out his hand automatically and caught her under the elbow.

"Woops!" She said cheerfully, then, in a stage whisper, _"I've been drinking."_

"I can tell. You should go to bed."

"But I _can't_, Christopher," she said, very seriously. "My sister zipped my dress, and she isn't here, she stayed at her friend's but I wanted to go home, and now I can't reach the zip and I can't take my dress off and I can't go to bed in my dress. Can I."

"You want me to unzip your dress."

"Mm-hmm."

"In the middle of the corridor, at 2am."

Her brow wrinkled. "I left the bar at midnight! Ish. It's not that late."

"I don't know where you've been for two hours, but it's gone two now."

"Oh, oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't realise it was so late! Oh god, I'm sorry, I'll go..."

"I'm awake now." He rubbed his hand over his face. "Come on, then. Turn round."

She turned round very carefully, holding onto the doorframe. He peered at her dress - sure enough it had a zip down the back - and put one hand on Anna's shoulder to steady her, as she was swaying slightly.

"Your hands are warm," she said vaguely.

"How far down do you want me to take it?" He said, ignoring her.

"Oh, all the way, so I don't have to come back."

"But then your dress will - you know. Fall off."

"Oh! I didn't think about that."

He sighed. "Hang on."

He went back into his flat and found a hoodie lying on the back of the sofa. Perfect.

Back at the door, he carefully pulled down the zip, then helped Anna pull the hoodie over her head. It fell past her knees and she kicked the dress off and across the floor to her front door.

"Thank you! I can go to bed now. You know what, I owe you one now. I owe you such a favour. I should buy you a drink, let me buy you a drink."

"I think you've had enough."

"Not now, silly!" She smacked him on the arm. "Another time. Okay? Or a coffee or something. Say yes."

"...fine. Do you have your key?"

"Uh-huh." She rummaged in her tiny bag and held it up triumphantly. "Thank you! Good night!"

"Drink some water," he said as she fumbled with the lock before finally opening her door.

"I will, Kristoff!" She smiled at him and, despite his tiredness, despite his irritation and the knowledge that he had to be at work in less than six hours, he found he was smiling back.

"You called me Kristoff."

"Oh! I'm sorry, I don't know where I got that from! Good night, Christopher!" And then she was gone.


	2. Next Morning

Elsa Rendell stepped out of the bus and crossed the road. The side-street of large Victorian houses where she lived with her sister was opposite the stop and it was only a couple of minutes before she was opening the front door and climbing the stairs to her first-floor flat.

There was something - a piece of cloth - on the corridor floor outside the front door of number four._ That's the same colour as Anna's dress_, she thought. She picked it up. _This_ is _Anna's dress._

Panicked, she looked up and down the hall but nothing else was out of place. Both flat doors were closed. Wishing once again that she could rely on Anna to text her when she was home safe, Elsa let herself in and ran to her sister's room - where Anna was fast asleep, sprawled on top of the covers, in her Little Miss Chatterbox pyjamas and last night's make-up.

* * *

><p>It took half an hour and two cups of tea but Elsa finally managed to get the full story out of her.<p>

"So to recap. Last night, you got home after two."

"Mm-hmm."

"And you couldn't unzip your dress so you knocked on the door of the poor young man opposite -"

Anna put both hands over her face.

"- and asked him to help you. Which he did."

"Oh god."

"Then you asked him out."

"Oh GOD."

"I knew you fancied him!"

"I do not fancy Kristoff the builder man!"

"Really."

"Elsa, we have to move. I am not even joking. I can never speak to him again."

"Well, firstly, you can move any time you like, you were only supposed to be here for a week after you broke up with Hans and it's been three months. Secondly, he fancies YOU so he probably didn't mind too much helping you take your clothes off."

"He doesn't fancy me."

"Stop grinning."

"I'm not grinning! And you know I'm off men, after Hans. No men for a year. Or six months at _least_."

"Anna, let me tell you something. I lived here for two years before you moved in, and in that whole time, the only thing that man ever said to me was 'hello' or 'morning'. I only knew his name because it's on his bell. Now, every time he sees me he says 'how are you?' closely followed by 'and how's your sister?'. He likes you."

Anna bit her lip to cover her smile.

"So please," Elsa continued, "PLEASE go out with him and put us all out of our misery."

"I CAN'T," Anna said. "I have humiliated myself totally. I won't even be able to look him in the_ eye_. And, remember, no men! None. Not even nice ones. Not even nice, hot ones."

"You're going to have to speak to him," Elsa said, "Because I'm assuming it's his hoodie I found on the bathroom floor. Unless you ran into any other young men on your way home last night."

"I shall put it on the hall floor and knock and run away."

"That's a bit rude."

"I shall put it on the hall floor, with a thank you card and a bunch of flowers,_ then_ knock and run away."

"You will knock on his door and apologise and thank him nicely like the well brought-up young lady you are."

"But not right now."

"Well, no, I don't think he's there. His van isn't outside."

Anna slumped with her head in her hands. "He's working today. He's working today and I woke him up at 2am. I can assure you, if he liked me before, he doesn't now."


	3. Fire Alarm

(quick reminder that in the UK 'pissed' means drunk, not angry)

* * *

><p>"We must stop meeting like this," Anna said, suddenly at his side.<p>

"Sorry, what?"

"Half-dressed at 2am."

Anna was actually wrapped in a fleece blanket; he could only see her fluffy slippers and her hands. Kristoff found himself wondering what she was wearing underneath and stomped on the thought quickly.

"At least _I've_ got proper shoes on."

"Is this your dog?" Now she was crouching down.

"Yeah, this is Sven."

"Hello, Sven," Anna said, letting him sniff her hand. "I knew you had a dog but we never hear him during the day, he must be very good."

"He is. But also he isn't actually there, I take him to work with me."

"You work for your dad?"

"Yeah, how did you know that?"

"Your van says Bjorgman and Son. And I didn't think you had a son so I thought you must have a father."

"Well - noticed."

She beamed at him, and stroked Sven cheerfully before standing up and absent-mindedly wiping her hand on her blanket.

"Where's your sister?"

"Over there," Anna pointed. Elsa was a little further down the street, engaged in a heated discussion with some of the other residents. "She thinks they need to have an electrician look at the alarm."

"This _is _the third time this month."

"The first in the middle of the night, though."

"_Once_ is too many." Kristoff crossed his arms over his chest. It wasn't a cold night but, considering he was only wearing a t-shirt and his pyjama shorts, it was cold enough.

"Are you cold? Do you want my blanket?"

"I'm all right. And then _you'd_ be cold."

"I have my onesie on." She held open the blanket. "Look, I'm a reindeer!"

"Very nice."

"I have a koala as well but it's in the wash. It got hot chocolate on it."

He snorted. "I like the way you remove yourself from all responsibility, there. _You_ didn't spill hot chocolate on it, it just happened."

"Right." She was grinning.

"You're very chipper for being woken up in the middle of the night."

"Oh, I didn't go to bed yet. I mean, I had a nap after work, then I've been up again for a bit and I had some dinner, and I was going to go back to bed but I was still up just now."

"That sounds...complicated."

Anna shrugged. Then her head whipped round. "Ooh! The fire engine! Look!"

"How old are you?" She stuck her tongue out at him. "Five," he said. "Got it."

They stood in companionable silence for a moment, then Anna said "Um, actually, Kristoff, I needed to talk to you about something."

"...okay?"

"You know the other night?"

"Yes?"

"And I was a bit drunk?"

"Yes?"

"And I kinda asked you out?"

"...yes?" Anna was pulling a face so he decided to help her. "If you didn't mean it - or you've changed your mind - that's fine. I can't hold you to things you said when you were pissed."

"Oh it's not that - as such - it's just that. Well. You know I moved in with Elsa because I broke up with my boyfriend?"

"I didn't, but go on."

"Well, I realised that I've only been single for about a week since I was fifteen - that's nine years! And I realised that my boyfriends were getting worse and worse and the last one was, ugh. You don't even want to know. So I thought I should stay single for a while - like, at least six months - until I worked out what I want, you know. So I can make better choices. So it's nothing personal, but I can't go out with anyone just now." She looked at him, hesitantly. "Is that okay?"

"What? Of course it's okay."

"Oh. Okay. I mean, that's good! Fine." She took a deep breath. "You're not disappointed?"

"I'll live."

"Sorry." A pause. "That's really big-headed, isn't it? To think you'd be disappointed. You're probably glad you don't have to go through with it."

"No, I -"

"Anna!" Elsa was walking towards them, waving. "We can go back in! They've checked everything and reset the alarm. Honestly, this is ridiculous, I'm phoning first thing in the morning and getting this looked at."

"It _is_ first thing in the morning," Anna said, turning to follow her sister back inside. "Goodnight, Kristoff."

"Goodnight."

He watched the sisters cross the road and go inside, and tried to work out when six months would be up. Mid-December? Something like that.

That wasn't too bad.


	4. Locked Out

"Everything all right?"

Anna was coming up the stairs. Last time he'd seen her she'd been wearing a onesie and a blanket with her long red hair everywhere - now, presumably coming home from work, she was wearing a smart suit and blouse with her hair neatly clipped up (though parts of it were starting to escape).

"Yeah, I'm just an idiot. Dad needed the van this evening and I've just realised I've left my door keys in it. And my phone! Christ." Kristoff thumped the door in frustration.

"Well, come in and use our phone." She opened the door. "It's no problem."

"Is that okay? I can tie Sven up out here."

"Oh no, bring him in! I don't mind."

"Your sister might, though," he said as he followed her through the flat door.

"Oh, she'll be fine. And she won't be home for a while yet anyway, she has a board meeting thing."

"I don't actually know what you and your sister do for a living."

Anna gave him a strange look as she ushered him into the living room. "We work at Rendell."

"Rendell Industries? I knew that was your surname, but…"

"It was our parents' company. They died, a few years ago now, and Elsa's the MD. I thought you knew that."

"I - no. I did not know that."

"I'm in marketing, Elsa wants me to be the Marketing Director but I'm not sure, too much like hard work! I like where I am right now. Even though I have to dress like this! Anyway, here's the phone, I'm going to get changed." She gave him the handset and disappeared.

Kristoff watched her go, lost in thought. He didn't know much about Rendell Industries, other, of course, than the skyscraper in the city centre with RENDELL on the side in glowing letters. It was a huge organisation that employed half the town. No wonder Elsa always looked so stressed.

Finally he roused himself enough to call his dad, get laughed at, and ask him to come back with his keys.

* * *

><p>"You know, you should leave a key here," Anna said as she came back into the room, now in jeans and a jumper. "And you could hold one for us. I'm always locking myself out and having to go back to work and get Elsa's key, it's terrible."<p>

"Sure. Um, it'll just be a few minutes before my dad can come back, so thanks for letting me use your phone, I'll get out of your way -"

"Don't be silly!" she said. "Stay here, you can't sit in the corridor."

"OK, thanks. He won't be long."

* * *

><p>"So how long have you been living here now?" he said, hoping it was an innocent enough question.<p>

"Just over three months." Anna dropped onto the sofa and waved at the seat next to her. "I was going to look for somewhere to rent but to be honest I like living with Elsa. I get lonely by myself. Sit down." So she was more than halfway through her self-enforced singledom. An interesting fact. He sat and Sven flopped down onto the floor at his feet.

"And it's good for Elsa too. When she lives alone she gets a bit hermit-y. Can I stroke your dog?"

"Only if you want him to love you forever."

Anna grinned and dropped to her knees beside Sven. "Who's a good boy? YOU are. You ARE."

"Don't talk to him like that. He doesn't like it."

Woman and dog both looked at him incredulously.

There was a knock at the door and Anna ruffled Sven's fur one last time before jumping up to answer it.

"Hello! - Kristoff, it's your dad!"

* * *

><p>"Thanks," Kristoff said as he left, "I appreciate it."<p>

"No problem. What are friends for?"

As she closed the door, she heard the older man say "So, is that the one you like or is it the other one?" And she smiled.


	5. Sugar

A knock at the door, at 9pm on a Wednesday. Unusual, but not, now Anna had decided he was her best friend, unheard-of.

And sure enough it was Anna, with her hair pulled back into a messy bun and a smudge of flour on her cheek.

"I have come," she said very seriously, "to borrow -" here she snorted - "to borrow a cup of sugar -" and she snorted again, before pressing her lips tight together to keep a straight face.

Kristoff folded his arms and looked at her. "Really."

"Really! I'm baking a cake, and I don't have enough sugar, and I remembered you take sugar in your tea so I knew you'd have some. So I knocked and then it seemed so funny, I mean, isn't it? Asking your neighbour for a cup of sugar like this is some 1950s American sitcom."

She held out an empty cup, still fighting giggles. He stood back to let her in the door.

"It's just granulated," he said, heading for the kitchen. "Not proper caster sugar for cakes."

"I'm impressed with your knowledge of baking ingredients," she said merrily, following him.

"I used to bake cakes with my mum."

"That's sweet!"

"Same as mixing cement, really." He found the canister and poured some sugar into her cup. "There you go. That enough?"

"Yes, thank you. And cement, really? Remind me never to eat a cake you made."

"You'd be missing a treat."

"Would I."

She was still standing in front of him, holding the cup in both hands. Her chin was tilted up, her eyes still sparkling with amusement. She caught his gaze upon her face and pouted, and all he would need to do would be to reach out a few inches, lean down slightly - two more months! He'd never known he had this much willpower.

And then suddenly she was kissing him, standing on her tiptoes to reach. He leant in automatically and she hummed in the back of her throat, landing back on her heels as he slipped his arm round her waist; she fumbled with something beside her and he realised she was putting the cup of sugar down on the worktop before wrapping her arms round his neck. He held her close, savouring the feeling of her lips on his, knowing he should stop but not wanting the moment to end.

Eventually Anna pulled away, and they looked at each other for a long moment. "So, um," she said. "That happened." She smiled at him weakly and bit her lip.

"I've been wanting to do that for a long time," he confessed, "but I thought…"

"I know," she said. "But apparently I've got a lot less self-control than I thought."

She looked to the side, guiltily.

"I should go," she said suddenly. "I left the oven on and everything is out on the side and I think actually I left the front door open, I should go."

"Anna, wait -"

Kristoff picked up the abandoned cup of sugar and followed her out into the hall. Anna had paused at her doorway, presumably having remembered why she went out in the first place, and he handed her the cup.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to - I'm sorry."

"No, I'm sorry," she said. "I'm just mucking you about, aren't I? You're such a nice man and I like you, I really do, but I just - " she sighed. "It probably seems completely arbritrary, doesn't it? Six months."

"I can wait," he said.

"I can't ask you to do that." She hesitated for a moment, then said "Thank you for the sugar," and went inside.


	6. Just A Kiss

It was nearly 11pm before Elsa got home. Anna heard the front door slam and then her sister was in the room.

"Hey, Anna. Ooh, did you bake?"

"Mm-hmm. Fairy cakes. Did you sort out your thing?"

"Yes, thank you."

Elsa dropped down into the armchair and regarded her sister. Anna was lying on the sofa, flat on her back, staring at the ceiling.

"Everything all right? You're normally happier than this when there's cake in the house."

"I'm not sad. Just thinking."

"About?"

"I didn't have enough sugar. So I borrowed some from Kristoff."

"Yes?"

"Then I kissed him. Then I came back here and made fairy cakes."

"You kissed him? Like, properly?"

"Yes."

Elsa sighed. "Oh, thank goodness."

"What?"

"I can only watch you two moon over each other for so long. So, what, are you a couple now?"

"No."

"Anna."

"You know why."

"You didn't know you'd meet somebody."

"There'd've been no point making a resolution if I didn't think I _might_. And you're the one," Anna continued, "who always tells me off for jumping into things too quickly. You encouraged me to do this."

"I know. You're right."

"But now I don't know what to do."

"Well, what do you want?"

Anna stared back at the ceiling and kicked her legs thoughtfully. "I want to kiss him again."

"Off you pop, then."

"It isn't that easy!"

"I bet it would be. I bet you could just knock on his door and say 'I want to kiss you again' and that would be it, job done."

"But do you think I _should_?"

"I don't know, Anna! You're an adult. Make your own life choices. I didn't finish work until gone ten, I need some sleep."

"But, Elsa." Anna rolled onto her front. "We don't have a mother. You're my big sister so you have to be my mother. Tell me what to do, Elsa."

"You want some motherly advice."

"Yes!"

"Go to bed, you've got work in the morning."

Anna blew a raspberry after her as she left the room.


	7. A Walk In The Park

Kristoff didn't think Anna was avoiding him, exactly. They came and went at different times to their very different jobs; and if Elsa was at home in the evening Anna didn't usually knock, so not seeing her on any particular day was not unusual. The days were starting to add up, though.

So he was glad when he ran into her in the hall on a Saturday afternoon, as he was heading out to take Sven to the park. She was flipping through her post, but her brow was furrowed and she was obviously thinking about something else.

"Hi," he said, and she looked up, startled. "Oh! Hi! Going for a walk?"

"Yes. Want to join us?"

Anna looked hesitant and fiddled with the envelopes. "Are you going to the park? I don't have the right shoes on."

"We can wait a minute."

She hesitated again then said "OK. Just a sec," before running up the stairs to the first floor.

She was longer than he expected and he was wondering whether to go looking for her (he couldn't bring himself to leave without her, even if she deserved it) when she came thumping back down. She'd plaited her hair into pigtails as well as changing her shoes for wellies with brightly-coloured polka dots.

She'd also obviously decided to cheer up because now she was smiling and chatty, though in a fairly determined way. He listened to her talk about the weather and work and The X-Factor as they walked to the park, then once they were firmly inside the gate he unclipped Sven's lead and threw the tennis ball for him before saying "So what's wrong?"

"What? Nothing's wrong. I'm fine. I'm glad I came, though, I needed the fresh air."

Sven dropped the ball at their feet and Anna picked it up and threw it for him again, surprisingly far.

"Nice."

"Expected me to throw like a girl, didn't you." She was grinning now.

"Of course not."

"Hmm."

She threw the ball again, and then, still looking ahead, said abruptly "I ran into my ex today. Well, I say _ran into_, he just _happened_ to be outside the gym at the time I always come out."

"Let me guess," Kristoff said. "He also _happened_ to have a beautiful woman on his arm."

"No, actually, the opposite of that." Anna hesitated, eyes on the horizon.

"He wanted to apologise," she continued after a moment, "and the next thing I knew I was sitting opposite him in Costa listening to him talk about how sorry he was and how much he loved me and how we should get back together. Quite pleased with myself, actually, I managed to say 'Dumped you, did she' and he got all pouty for a minute. Before going into a long spiel about how we were going to get married and did I want to throw that all away."

"I didn't know you were engaged."

"Yeah. It just - threw me, you know? I haven't spoken to him in months. Since I left."

They walked along the path. The avenue of trees had left the path covered in dead leaves and Anna scuffed at them half-heartedly.

"Do you know _why_ he wanted to marry me?" she said. Kristoff shook his head. "He's a lawyer, right? In one of those big City firms. And he wanted to be a partner. But to be a partner you have to be a proper grown-up, mature - a family man. He needed a wife and two-point-four children and a dog, for the sake of his career. And he thought I would do. And Rendell, of course. I expect he couldn't _wait_ to brag about his sister-in-law the Managing Director."

Kristoff was at a loss, unsure what to say; but Anna was on a roll now, words spilling out of her and she probably wouldn't have heard him if he did say something.

"He proposed at his work Christmas do last year. Huge ballroom at this hotel, literally hundreds of people, we'd had this fancy dinner and champagne and there was going to be dancing but they were doing speeches? And before they did them he dragged me up on the little stage - he'd arranged it all with his boss - and he asked me and I wasn't sure but I couldn't say that, I couldn't say no! How could I say no? All those people watching me. So I said yes and he had a ring and everyone cheered and in all the speeches, every one, they congratulated us. And all evening everyone wanted to see my ring and asked when we were getting married and oh, it sounds so ridiculous! He made me phone Elsa and he was right there so I had to sound happy, and she said Anna, are you sure? And of course I had to say yes."

Anna paused for a moment, staring into space.

"And then it was a few days before I spoke to her again, before I spoke to her alone, and by then it was just this established fact. We were getting married."

"But you didn't."

"No."

"So it's not too bad."

"But I would have done. If I hadn't - if I hadn't come home early and found him in bed with someone else."

"Oh, Anna."

"And he said - see if you can guess what he said. Think of the most ridiculously cliched thing you can, go on."

"Um - this isn't what it looks like?"

"Good one, but no. No, he said 'Anna, I can explain'. And I threw the ring in his face - it hit him on the nose, I was quite pleased with that - and ran out and it wasn't until later, when I was crying on Elsa's shoulder, that I wondered what the explanation would have been, you know? I nearly wished I could go back in time and say no, go on, explain to your _fiancee_ why you have your _cock _in _another woman's mouth_. Explain. I would love to hear it."

They walked on in silence for a moment, before Kristoff said "Maybe he got bitten by a snake and she had to suck the poison out."

"Ah, but there aren't any poisonous snakes in Britain."

"There are. Adders."

"If I were a snake I'd bite him," Anna said vaguely.

"Christ, he's a prick," she continued after a moment. "Don't you think?"

"I'm not sure it's fair for me to give my opinion. I'm only hearing your side of the story." She pulled a face at him. "But yeah, he does sound like a prick. A colossal prick. I bet he's a good lawyer, though."

"Well, obviously."

"I bet he didn't get the partnership if he was screwing around on his fiancee."

"Oh, no, you see, it turns out _I_ was cheating on _him_! And he was terribly distraught. So I heard."

"Definitely a prick, then."

"Yes. And I had nowhere to live and all our friends were suddenly _his_ friends and, oh." Anna scrubbed at her face with the heels of her hands. "I dont know what I'd have done without Elsa, I really don't."

After a moment, Kristoff said "And after all this - and ignoring you since, what, June - he was accusing _you_ of wanting to throw your beautiful relationship away?"

Anna was silent for a moment, as if she hadn't heard him, then she said quietly, "The worst thing is if we'd had this conversation, like, a week after it all? I would have gone back."

"No, you wouldn't."

"I would. I was - scared. I didn't want to be alone. I hate being alone."

"You've got your sister."

"Now I have - we never used to be that close. I only came here because I didn't have anywhere else to go. She only took me in because, well. She knew that."

Kristoff was silent, because he was suddenly remembering something. He remembered when Arthur and Elaine Rendell had died, of course, in a yachting accident about four years ago - it had been in the papers. And how their daughter had taken over, and hadn't she had some kind of breakdown? It embarrassed him now to recall that everyone he knew who worked there had just been worried about their jobs. He hadn't properly connected it with Elsa until this moment; she must have been very young. Would Anna have still been at university?

A conversation for another time, perhaps. For now Anna was playing with Sven, pretending to throw the ball and then showing it to him in her hand.

"You know what?" she said, offhand. "He got my order wrong. He knows I don't take sugar. I've never taken sugar. I drank it anyway. I'm an idiot."

"No, you're not. Unless this is all leading up to you telling me that you _did_ get back together with him, in which case, yes, you're an idiot."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, I'm over him. So completely over him. I told him to sling his hook. In as many words."

"Good."

She gave him a knowing look.

"I didn't mean - that it's good for me, or anything like that - I meant - good for you. You don't need that wanker."

"I know." She threw the tennis ball with all her might, and Sven ran after it, barking madly. Anna folded her hands demurely in front of her, smiling to herself. "I don't need any man. But," she turned and smiled at him, "I think it might be okay to want one."

Then she turned on her heel and walked past him back along the path, still smiling to herself. And he followed her home.


	8. Resolutions

He followed her home, but Anna was the one who followed him into his flat, tugging off her boots at the door and then collapsing dramatically on the sofa.

"It was only to the park and back," Kristoff said, filling the kettle.

"I went to the gym this morning, remember. I'm perfectly entitled to sit around for the rest of the day. The rest of the week."

"Isn't that what your job is? Sitting around?" He put sugar in his mug - the plain blue one - and tea bags in both his and Anna's - her favourite of his mugs, the one with the cartoon dog on it that his aunt had given him last Christmas.

Anna opened her mouth to protest, then thought for a moment and said "Mainly. Sometimes I make small movements with my fingers."

She wiggled them at him and he laughed. "You're in a better mood."

"I am! I am. Thank you," as he put the tea down on the table in front of her. "I think I needed it, you know? Needed to see him and realise that - no. Done. Closed that door."

"Surely it was already closed," he said as he sat next to her.

"No, not really - it was ajar, I guess - he could be nice, when he wanted to be. Which says it all, I suppose. I needed that, you know, distance, to see him properly."

"So it worked for you."

Anna raised her eyebrows.

"You know, your resolution. Your six months."

"Oh! Yes." She looked thoughtful for a moment.

"It had a purpose," she said, "but now I wonder - if maybe it's served that purpose. You know. I've been alone all this time and it's been fine! I can do it. But at the same time, I'm, well, not very good at sticking to goals - and I'm so close to this one. I don't want to just give up."

"You kissed me before," he said, "didn't that count?"

"I - don't know."

"And if it didn't count then," he said, bold enough to slide a little closer to her on the sofa, "would it count now?"

"You're not very subtle," she said, laughing.

He shrugged. "You didn't answer my question."

Anna hesitated, watching his face, leaning towards him almost without meaning to. "I think…"

"Yes?"

"I think - maybe kissing is okay. Because we did already do that. But no more than that."

"Okay." He put up his hand to cup the side of her face, but she was still talking.

"And I think - we should spend more time together. Get to know each other a bit better. Go to the cinema sometimes, or something."

"Or out for dinner, maybe." He stroked her cheek with his thumb, and she slipped one arm round his neck.

"Right! But it wouldn't be a date. Because you're not my boyfriend."

"Okay." He kissed her, lightly.

"I made a resolution. No boyfriends."

"Okay." He kissed her again, for a little longer this time.

"Mm - and I can totally stick to resolutions -" she slid her other arm round his neck and ran her fingers through his hair as he kissed her again - "when I put my mind to it -"

"Anna."

"What."

"Stop talking."

_END OF BOOK ONE_


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